SOCIETY
HUANG Xu, YU Ping, YANG Zhenshan, TAN Luojian, TANG Ruien, MA Jingyi
Based on the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of sense of place, meaning of place and neighborhood governance, this paper takes Rugao East Street in Jiangsu Province as a typical case, and uses questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to explore the role of Rugao East Street, an old city neighborhood, in shaping the sense of place from the perspective of different subjects. Specifically, this paper categorizes the sense of place of different subjects into three types: Rrooted, creative and caring sense of place. This is connected to the three main dimensions of sense of place (place dependency, place identity, and place attachment) in the existing literature. First, when place dependence plays a dominant role, individuals have strong functional ties to place, resulting in a rooted sense of place represented by local residents, with a focus on blood ties, social networks, and a sense of belonging. Second, when place identity dominates the formation of sense of place, individuals have more of a process of integration and adaptation to place; in this process, they continuously evaluate place and enrich and improve their own sense of place, resulting in a creative sense of place represented by merchants, which mainly involves aesthetics, embodied experience and private space. In addition, the sense of place formed by place attachment is a caring sense of place, which is different from that of local residents and merchants, and is mainly related to emotional concern, social interaction and familiarity.